The invention relates to tomographic imaging, and especially, but not exclusively, to x-ray tomographic dental imaging.
A set of three-dimensional data relating to a property of an object that varies over space within the object may be obtained in various ways. For example, an x-ray image of a target may be obtained by placing the target between a source of x-rays and a detector of the x-rays. In a computed tomography (CT) system, a series of x-ray images of a target are taken with the direction from the source to the detector differently oriented relative to the target. From these images, a three-dimensional representation of the density of x-ray absorbing material in the target may be reconstructed. Other methods of generating a three-dimensional dataset are known, including magnetic resonance imaging, or may be developed hereafter.
Various proposals have been made for displaying the data to a user, such as a doctor or surgeon. The best known display is to provide one or more cross-sectional views of the target in planes parallel to principal axes of the imaging apparatus. However, other display options have been used. For example, in dental work a cross-section in a plane perpendicular to the dental arch has been used.